Blindspot Berlin Wins Top Fiction Prize at Cadiz Series Festival
German drama Blindspot Berlin won three prizes, including Best Fiction Series, at the 4th South International Series Festival in Cadiz, Spain, according to Variety.
The show also took the Screenplay award and the Audience Award. It stars Albrecht Schuch and was co-created, co-written and directed by David Nawrath. Beta Film is selling it, and Germany's ARD, rbb, NDR and HR are backing it. A festival prize is a public honour, not a sale, but for a series it can help a title travel to other broadcasters and buyers.
The non-fiction winner was The Oligarch and the Art Dealer, which took Best Non-Fiction Series. It is an Arte docuseries, meaning a multi-episode documentary, co-created, written and directed by Andreas Dalsgaard. Arte is the Franco-German public channel, so the prize goes to a show from a broadcaster that, like many European public services, commissions both drama and documentary.
The South International Series Festival is held every year in Cadiz. It brings together industry professionals and the general public to watch fiction and non-fiction premieres, according to the festival's website. The festival says its latest edition drew more than 12,000 spectators.
For the people who make these shows, a festival week is a rare chance to sit in the same room as the buyers, the broadcasters and the audience. Writers, directors and actors see their work screened to strangers. Producers meet commissioners who might fund the next season, or the next project entirely.
The festival is one stop in a long calendar. Series like these usually reach home audiences months after a festival premiere, through a broadcaster, a streaming service or a sales deal. Any new broadcast dates or buyers for these two winners had not been announced.
